Top 5 Jocks of All Time

[bigmack]

Pincay
Bailey
Cordero
Valenzuela
Shoemaker

[DrugSalvastore]

Ganpath
Lakeman
Rojas
Wynter
Kent Desormeaux

[betovernetcapper]

Shoemaker
Day
Cordero
Fires
Fallon

[Humph]

Piggott
Shoemaker
Pincay
Cauthen
Cordero

[KirisClown]

Ganpath
Lakeman
Rojas
Wynter
Kent Desormeaux


You forgot Shannon Uske & Paula Keim-Bruno

[betchatoo]

Arcaro
Shoemaker
Pincay
Bailey
Hartack

[arkansasman]

Arcaro
Shoemaker
Hartack
Pincay
Stevens

[NY BRED]

You forgot Shannon Uske & Paula Keim-Bruno

oldies but goodies:

cordero/shoemaker

pat day

pincay/baeza


for sheer guts:

chris antley/don macbeth/mike hole

[RobinFromIreland]

Lester Piggott
4 others

[peakpros]

List contains only jocks I have seen over the years...



cordero
shoemaker
pincay
walter blum
antley

[shanta]

Piggot
Pincay
Shoe
Arcaro
Day

[The Judge]

Issac Murphy
Pincay
Shoemaker
Piggot
Cordero

[sq764]

Pincay
Bailey
Cordero
Valenzuela
Shoemaker
No Pat Day?

[Wickel]

Bill Shoemaker
Johnny Longden
Pat Valenzuela
Angel Cordero
Chris McCarron

[skate]

top all time athlete (jock,driver) of all times


john campbell

[bigmack]

No Pat Day?
I suppose i'll have to pull the plug on PVal and slide in a DH between Day/Arcaro

[ghostyapper]

mccaron
cordero
pincay
prado
shoemaker

[falconridge]

The Veterans' Committee submit the following ...

In alphabetical order:

Ted "the Professor" Atkinson
Edward "Snapper" Garrison
Isaac Murphy
Earl Sande
Carroll Shilling
(James) Tod(hunter "Toad") Sloan
Jimmy Winkfield
George "the Iceman" Wolfe

[The Judge]

Good call. This is a tough job with only 5, could do much better with 12-15. Even then would have to leave some great ones off.

[46zilzal]

Pincay
Bailey
Cordero
Valenzuela
Shoemaker
that is limiting us to the last 60 years. hard to leave out Aracro as well at the fellow who NEVER lost a photo finish and was riding under not only a weight problem but diabetes as well: George Woolfe.

I am very biased toward Laffit however having seen him "will" horses to the wire many times. SA Derby: Skywalker was beat at the top of the lane yet he got him home.

of the current crop Edgar Prado and Ramon Dominquez are the most impressive. If he keeps on improving, one day we might be talking about Justin Stein.

[bigmack]

JOCKEYS YEAR JOCKEYS YEAR

John Adams (http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/jockey.asp?ID=14)1965 Frank D. Adams (http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/jockey.asp?ID=13)1970 Joe Aitcheson , Jr. (http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/jockey.asp?ID=15)1978 G. Edward Arcaro (http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/jockey.asp?ID=16)1958 Ted F. Atkinson (http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/jockey.asp?ID=19)1957 Braulio Baeza (http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/jockey.asp?ID=163)1976 Jerry Bailey (http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/jockey.asp?ID=164)1995 George Barbee (http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/jockey.asp?ID=165)1996 Caroll K. Bassett (http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/jockey.asp?ID=166)1972 Russell Baze (http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/jockey.asp?ID=342)1999 Walter Blum (http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/jockey.asp?ID=167)1987 George Bostwick (http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/jockey.asp?ID=168)1968 Sam Boulmetis , Sr. (http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/jockey.asp?ID=169)1973 Steve Brooks (http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/jockey.asp?ID=170)1963 Don Brumfield (http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/jockey.asp?ID=171)1996 Thomas H. Burns (http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/jockey.asp?ID=172)1983 James H. Butwell (http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/jockey.asp?ID=173)1984 J. Dallett Byers (http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/jockey.asp?ID=174)1967 Steve Cauthen (http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/jockey.asp?ID=175)1994 Frank Coltiletti (http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/jockey.asp?ID=176)1970 Angel Cordero , Jr. (http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/jockey.asp?ID=177)1988 Robert H. Crawford (http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/jockey.asp?ID=178)1973 Pat Day (http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/jockey.asp?ID=179)1991 Eddie Delahoussaye (http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/jockey.asp?ID=180)1993 Kent Desormeaux (http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/jockey.asp?ID=397)2004 Lavelle Ensor (http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/jockey.asp?ID=181)1962 Laverne Fator (http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/jockey.asp?ID=182)1955 Earlie Fires (http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/jockey.asp?ID=363)2001 Jerry Fishback (http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/jockey.asp?ID=183)1992 Mack Garner (http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/jockey.asp?ID=184)1969 Edward Garrison (http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/jockey.asp?ID=185)1955 Avelino Gomez (http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/jockey.asp?ID=186)1982 Henry F. Griffin (http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/jockey.asp?ID=187)1956 O. Eric Guerin (http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/jockey.asp?ID=188)1972 William J. Hartack (http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/jockey.asp?ID=189)1959 Sandy Hawley (http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/jockey.asp?ID=190)1992 Albert Johnson (http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/jockey.asp?ID=191)1971 William J. Knapp (http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/jockey.asp?ID=192)1969 Julie Krone (http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/jockey.asp?ID=351)2000 Clarence Kummer (http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/jockey.asp?ID=193)1972 Charles Kurtsinger (http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/jockey.asp?ID=195)1967 John P. Loftus (http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/jockey.asp?ID=196)1959 John Eric Longden (http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/jockey.asp?ID=197)1958 Daniel A. Maher (http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/jockey.asp?ID=198)1955 J. Linus McAtee (http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/jockey.asp?ID=199)1956 Chris McCarron (http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/jockey.asp?ID=200)1989 Conn McCreary (http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/jockey.asp?ID=201)1975 Rigan McKinney (http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/jockey.asp?ID=202)1968 James McLaughlin (http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/jockey.asp?ID=203)1955 Walter Miller (http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/jockey.asp?ID=204)1955 Isaac B. Murphy (http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/jockey.asp?ID=205)1955 Ralph Neves (http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/jockey.asp?ID=206)1960 Joe Notter (http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/jockey.asp?ID=207)1963 Winfield O'Conner (http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/jockey.asp?ID=209)1956 George M. Odom (http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/jockey.asp?ID=208)1955 Frank O'Neill (http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/jockey.asp?ID=210)1956 Ivan H. Parke (http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/jockey.asp?ID=211)1978 Gilbert W. Patrick (http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/jockey.asp?ID=212)1970 Laffit Pincay , Jr. (http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/jockey.asp?ID=213)1975 Samuel Purdy (http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/jockey.asp?ID=214)1970 John Reiff (http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/jockey.asp?ID=215)1956 Alfred Robertson (http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/jockey.asp?ID=216)1971 John L. Rotz (http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/jockey.asp?ID=217)1983 Earl Sande (http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/jockey.asp?ID=218)1955 Carroll H. Shilling (http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/jockey.asp?ID=219)1970 William Shoemaker (http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/jockey.asp?ID=220)1958 Willie Simms (http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/jockey.asp?ID=221)1977 Tod Sloan (http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/jockey.asp?ID=222)1955 Mike Smith (http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/jockey.asp?ID=396)2003 Alfred P. Smithwick (http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/jockey.asp?ID=223)1973 Gary Stevens (http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/jockey.asp?ID=224)1997 James Stout (http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/jockey.asp?ID=225)1968 Fred Taral (http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/jockey.asp?ID=226)1955 Bayard Tuckerman , Jr. (http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/jockey.asp?ID=227)1973 Ron Turcotte (http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/jockey.asp?ID=228)1979 Nash Turner (http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/jockey.asp?ID=229)1955 Robert N. Ussery (http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/jockey.asp?ID=230)1980 Jacinto Vasquez (http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/jockey.asp?ID=231)1998 Jorge Velasquez (http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/jockey.asp?ID=232)1990 Thomas Walsh (http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/jockey.asp?ID=414)2005 Jack Westrope (http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/jockey.asp?ID=372)2002 Jimmy Winkfield (http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/jockey.asp?ID=399)2004 George M. Woolf (http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/jockey.asp?ID=233)1955 Raymond Workman (http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/jockey.asp?ID=234)1956 Manuel Ycaza (http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/jockey.asp?ID=235)1977

[falconridge]

Good call. This is a tough job with only 5, could do much better with 12-15. Even then would have to leave some great ones off.Thanks, Judge.

The surname of the jockey who rode Seabiscuit in the famous match race at Pimlico is, of course "Woolf"--not "Wolfe" (I happened to be eating a pastrami sandwich from Wolfe's Market when I typed that post).

Ted Atkinson, who was more commonly know as "The Slasher" (a sobriquet he loathed), was the grandfather of Caton Bredar. Atkinson preferred "The Professor," which nickname most of his contemporaries also considered more fitting. Besides being a "heady" rider and a voracious reader between races, Atkinson had always excelled in school, and was valedictorian of the Corning Free Academy, whence he had hoped to enter the Annapolis Naval Academy. He had the smarts but, at only 5'3'', not the height. He never sat astride a horse until he was 21, when, in 1938, he broke his maiden at Columbus' Beulah Park.

Though Atkinson rode many great horses over his 21-year career (Bold Ruler, Coaltown, Devil Diver, Gallorette, Nashua, and War Relic, to name but a few), he said of another mount, Tom Fool, "None of the other horses I ever rode, on their best days, could measure up with him" (source: The Blood Horse).

[bigmack]

Ted Atkinson, who was more commonly know as "The Slasher" (a sobriquet he loathed), was the grandfather of Caton Bredar. Atkinson preferred "The Professor,"
Hadn't realized they were contract riding for particular stables in those days which he did

[Hank]

1.Lafitte Pincay Jr
2.Eddie Arcaro
3.Willie Shoemaker
4.Angel Cordero Jr
5.Jerrry Bailey

Of course only 5 leaves many greats off. I recall the first time I saw Pincay, he shipped in to ride a Handicap at Fairgrounds my home track, WOW his finnishing strength and technique was stunning ,NOBODY was going to out finnish this guy NOBODY. :ThmbUp:

[46zilzal]

1 I recall the first time I saw Pincay he shipped in to ride a Handicap at Fairgrounds my home track, WOW his finnishing strength and technique was stunning ,NOBODY was going to outfinnish this guy NOBODY.
Yet Laffit often stole them up front as his exploits on Creme Fraiche can attest.

[Dan Montilion]

This is good "bar room fodder". Here is a sleeper inclusion to the list...

Avelino Gomez

[46zilzal]

This is good "bar room fodder". Here is a sleeper inclusion to the list...

Avelino Gomez
didn't he go out with the modern day record winning percentage? Killed at Woodbine. Used to ride on the West coast but was barred for life after a few run ins with the management.

[bigmack]

Avelino Gomez
DQ'd as he's a Cuban and raced in Canada eh

[pressman]

anthony black for smaller track rider
and pat day should of quit after his first ride

[bigmack]

and pat day should of quit after his first ride
Not exactly a hack record:

Awards and Achievements
George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award, 1985
Eclipse Award as Outstanding Jockey in 1984, 86, 87, 91
Nation's winningest jockey in 1982-1984, 86, 90-91
Set a record for most stakes won in a single season, 1991
Canadian Triple Crown winner on Dance Smartly, 1991
Mike Venezia Award, 1995
Inducted in the Hall of Fame in 1991

[pressman]

yea and what 0 or 1 for 100 in the derby at a track he supposed to own?

[46zilzal]

I was on the rail at the first Breeder's Cup and Day kept Wild Again together when many couldn't have. That was one amazing ride. Laffit's nutty horse should have won but then he always found a way to give it away running 2nd two years running. Must have given VanBerg indigestion.

[46zilzal]

yea and what 0 or 1 for 100 in the derby at a track he supposed to own?
that is the hardest race of all to win because it is filled with colts that should not be there. How many greats have only won it once or never?

Lil E.T is what you are trying to find.

[pressman]

well lets face it when you think about the best lose 80% of the time

[douglasw32]

Honarable Mention ?

Julie Krone


only woman to ride winner in a Triple Crown race when she took 1993 Belmont Stakes aboard Colonial Affair; retired in 1999 as all-time winningest female jockey with over 3,000 wins; became the first female jockey named to hall of fame in 2000; came out of retirement in 2002, winning 2003 Breeders Cup race aboard Halfbridled.

[bigmack]

Julie Krone
Great Smile - Great person - Great Jock - Great human being on this planet

[bigmack]

Saw this about Shoemaker:

He considers his ride aboard Olden Times in the 1962 San Juan Capistrano one of his finest rides

As I don't - anyone know the story?

[46zilzal]

Great Smile - Great person - Great Jock - Great human being on this planet
true but NO WHERE to being considered with the greats.

[46zilzal]

Saw this about Shoemaker:

He considers his ride aboard Olden Times in the 1962 San Juan Capistrano one of his finest rides

As I don't - anyone know the story?
take a short horse and coax him to go a mile and three quarters on the lead. Tough assignment.

Think Davidowitz has the chart in his book.

[46zilzal]

Honarable Mention ?

Julie Krone



WORST ride I ever saw: Forty Niner in the 88 Breeder's Cup Classic. The rail was dead all day and this one was a dyed in the wool front runner so she took him BACK and on the RAIL. Horrible read and you don't change the horse's style particularly on an off track.

[falconridge]

Saw this about Shoemaker:

He considers his ride aboard Olden Times in the 1962 San Juan Capistrano one of his finest rides

As I don't - anyone know the story?This is off the top of my head--and that race went off a little short of my eighth birthday--so I have to be a bit sketchy on the details. Back in the day, Olden Times was a crack west-coast sprinter. He'd rarely, if ever, been tried at even a middle distance. Accordingly, based on his race history, 1 3/4 miles on the turf must have appeared to be as wrong as any conditions could be. Notwithstanding his mount's apparent limitations, however, Shoemaker nursed Olden Times along on the lead from flagfall to finish.

It wasn't until years later that I recognized this race as one I'd watched with my father. In those days, where I lived, television allotted only a half-hour a week to racing coverage. KTVU Channel 2 ("from historic Jack London Square in the Port of Oakland") would get the "Race of the Week" feeds from southern California, and my dad, if he wasn't at Bay Meadows or Tanforan, would tune in (Gil Stratton, who played a large-ish role in the 1953 Billy Wilder film "Stalag 17," was the host, and--depending on which SoCal meet was running at the time--Joe Hernandez or Harry Henson called the races). Often my father challenged me to pick the winner before announcing his own choice. I'd remembered seeing Olden Times score a few weeks earlier, and had taken to picking him in any race in which he turned up (besides, I always liked the name). Of course I knew nothing of handicapping or even how to read a Form, but I knew O.T. was a horse with a winning habit, so I picked him in the San Juan. I remember feeling as though I'd done something wrong when, after O.T. flashed under the wire and my dad's choice straggled in lengths behind, pops said, "He just STOLE that race!"

Just now I can't recall much about Olden Times's success--or lack thereof--in the breeding shed, other than that he begat one of my all-time favorite low-level claimers, a gelding named Old Memories, whose floruit on the northern California circuit ran from about 1979-83. Hickory-tough and honest as Diogenes' dog, O.M. ran his ears off every time he was led over--until a stumble, spill, and horrific breakdown at Golden Gate Fields reduced him to a mere memory.:(

[bigmack]

Falcon - Thanks for that post - It was outstanding

[classhandicapper]

If I could list Cordero 5 times I would.

1. Cordero
2. Bailey
3. Cauthen (as an apprentice he was freaking unbelievable for awhile)
4. Pat Valenzuela
5. Anyone that opens up a clear lead in a moderate/slow pace instead of choking the horse back into an eve slower pace that allows all the other major contenders to be in a position to win.

(I didn't see enough of Pincay, Arcaro, or Shoemaker)

Most overrated

1. Pat Day
2. Julie Krone
3. Mike Smith
4. Jorge Velasquez
5. Anyone else that thinks choking a horse back into a competitive but very slow pace is better than opening up a few lengths in a slow pace.

[Pgh. Gere]

Thanks so much for sharing your memory of Olden Times.Great post!

[oexplayer68]

In no particular order:

Craig Perret
Jerry Bailey
Cliff Berry
Eddie D.
Fernando Toro

[toetoe]

Falc on rye,

How DARE you try to slip that "alternate" spelling past Rami and the boys.

Ah, yes, Wes Gilbert/Arthur Ochoa/Old Memories, quite a potent triumvirate at any distance. Not the absolute machine that was Prince Rameses (4-8-4 for 16 in 1974{?}), Spacecapiat or Blue Rim Rock, but formidabilissimo, indeed. :ThmbUp:

How about these guys/gals?

Breanna Hernandez, gaining mounts solely through the dictates of ... well, Dick Tate, her trainer husband;

Ross "Cupcake" Allardyce, the Keith Van Horn of the NoCal riding troupe;

Danny Isbell, who finally found his calling as a mutuel clerk;

Vince Bracciale, who, licking his chops at the prospect of West Coast speedballs Solar Salute and Royal Owl heading east for the Preakness, said, "Riva Ridge thrashed us today, but out west there's a speedball to go with him --- Royal Salute." :D

Rick Jsames, whose birth was rumored to be the inspiration for the Spinners' smash, "It's A Jsames." One of the letters may be silent, but your humble correspondent? NEVER!

[falconridge]

And let's not forget diet-soda spokeschick Robyn "I married a 'hoofer'" Smith, about whom her hubby-to-be, the octogenarian erstwhile tosser of Adele Astaire, Ginger Rogers, and Petch Clark,* made the post-betrothal remark, "If she dies, she dies." :D

*Though to inmates of the Jay Ward, starring opposite Edward Everett Horton in Top Hat (1935) may have marked the apex of his career.

http://z.about.com/d/classicfilm/1/8/P/5/hrtnastrbrdrick.jpg http://www.alsodances.net/images/robyn_smith.jpg
(l to r: Ed, Fred, & the lovely Helen Broderick :confused: in Top Hat; Robyn hawking lo-cal fizzy water)

[bigmack]

Falcon - Let me be your publisher - With your style you could write the phone book and it would fly off the shelves.